10 



GrcenJumse niid Stove Plaiif-'. 



STOVE PLANTS. 



movable shading. The green-tinted paste 

 which is sometimes eniisloyed for smearing 

 glass, unless for such things as fihny Ferns, 

 is the worst possible shading that can be 

 used, onaccountof its immovable natureand 

 the great amount of light which it excludes. 

 White paste, made with common bread 

 flour and water, admits more light, l)ut 

 is very injurious to the paint, causing it 

 to peel off. Where there is no alternative 

 for shading except smearing the glass, 

 the best thing that can be used for the 

 purpose is whiting mixed -with, skimmed 

 milk and water in equal quantities ; this 

 is sufiiciently adhesive to withstand the 

 effects of rain, yet can be removed with 

 ease when the season is so far advanced 

 that it is no longer required ; but even 

 this, when laid on the glass as thinly as 

 possible, and when oidy sufficient is used 

 to bi'eak the sun's rays, has the objection 

 of excluding light in dull weather, and in 

 the mornings and evenings, when no shad- 

 ing is required. For conservatories built 

 in the irregular style, with roofs such as 

 do not admit the working of ordinary 

 blind rollers, and where it is, nevertheless, 

 necessary to use something to prevent 

 scorching, the least objectionable material, 

 either in appearance or having regard to 

 the exclusion of light, is tiffany or fine 

 netting. This should be tacked outside 

 during the spring and summer, but not 

 allowed to remain on any longer than is 

 absolutely necessary. Although in the 

 cultivation of most stove plants we are 

 compelled to resort to shading, we look 

 uijon it in any form as a necessary evil — 

 never to remain over the plants for a single 

 hour when not ref|uired. 



Water. — Most stove jilants, consequent 

 upon their rapid growth, need, when in an 

 active state, a large quantity of water ; 

 some require to have the soil always kept 

 comparatively moist ; others, when at rest, 

 want drying off, and should receive, for 

 a considerable time, very little. At no 

 season of the year ought water to be given 

 in a cooler state than the temperature the 

 plants require to be grown in ; and all 

 through the growing season it may, with 

 very great advantage, be applied warmer 

 than the temperature of the house they 

 occujiiy. 



Soil. — The soil required for growing 

 stove plants should always, wliether peat 

 or loam, be of a good description, contain- 

 ing plenty of fibre. This is necessary, as 

 the amount of water requisite for the 

 greater portion is such that decomposition 

 of the vegetable matter contained in the 

 soil is very rapid ; this also necessitates 

 the presence of sand amongst the soil in 



sufficient quantities to insure porosity. In 

 potting sto^'e plants there is one essential 

 that should never be lost sight of ; it is 

 that the soil, before using, ought always to 

 be placed where it will become as warm as 

 the temperature of the house in which the 

 plants to be operated upon are grown. 

 When the soil is used in a cold state it 

 necessarily chills them, at a time when 

 they are least able to bear it, when their 

 roots have been more or less broken in the 

 operation of potting. 



Tying. — The extent to which stove 

 plants reqiiire to be trained and tied de- 

 pends on the uses they are to be put to. 

 For ordinary decorative purposes no more 

 supports need be given than are requisite 

 to keep them in shape, and to avoid an 

 untidy straggling appearance. When they 

 are to be used for exhibition the branches 

 must be sufficiently secured to prevent 

 friction during removal, or they are sure 

 to suffer and to be rendered unsightly. 



Propagation. — In respect to the propa- 

 gation of stove plants from shoot cuttings it 

 may be well to remaik that, as in the case 

 of plants that do not require so high a 

 temperature for their cultivation, there is 

 much difference in the readiness with 

 which some kinds strike in this way as 

 compared with others. Much the greater 

 number root readily from cuttings made of 

 the soft or half-ripened shoots, severed at 

 a joint in the usual manner ; but in the case 

 of all plants thecuttingsof whichare advised 

 to be taken off' with a heel (that is, with the 

 small portion of more solid wood attached 

 which forms the base of the shoot at its 

 junction with the stem from which it has 

 sjjrung), it may be taken that they are 

 more diflicult to strike, and do not root 

 freely from oi'dinary cuttings. Plants that 

 in this way give some difficulty in their 

 pro])agation can also, almost always, be 

 struck from root cuttings, where the roots 

 are at all of a fleshy character, and not 

 naturally of a thin, hard, wiry description. 

 Small pieces of such roots, cut into lengths 

 an inch or so long, and treated in the usual 

 way as to the heat and moisture, rarely 

 fail to grow. In striking cuttings of some 

 stove plants, bottom heat is an assistance, 

 — that is, the means of plunging the pots 

 or pans wherein the cuttings are to be in- 

 serted in a medium that does not fluctuate 

 between day and night like the temperature 

 of the house. This is an advantage, parti- 

 cularly with cuttings of such plants as are 

 slow in forming roots. But, neverthe- 

 less, where the temperature of the house 

 or pit at command is moderately steady 

 and can be kept high enough, cuttings of 

 most kinds can be rooted as well by con- 



